I started making a list of relatives, friends and acquaintances who take/will take the 50% benefit, but it all comes down to one of two things:

+ Spouses of high earners (executives, doctors/dentists, professors), who worked part-time, intermittently, or at much lower-earning endeavors.

+ Women (and a few men) not reporting their income, or not reporting all of it, and planning to get their spousal 50% when their spouses retire.

But the majority of couples I know my age and younger have comparable incomes, many like my husband and me where the lower earner makes/made 1/2-3/4 as much as the higher earner. And as I and others can attest, that's enough for your own benefit to exceed the 50% spousal benefit, even with time off to raise children/care for elders/go to school.

Among the spouses of comparable income, most women were out of the work force longer to go to college than when they were at home with small children.

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